After spending four years in prison for killing his girlfriend, lumbering man-child Franz Biberkopf is finally released back into society. He wants to stay honest now he has left jail, but it is tough in the Alexanderplatz section of Berlin. After failing to succeed in several 'regular' jobs, he falls in with some old cohorts and an on-again, off-again association with thugs. Post-war society is crumbling, and it appears that nothing will bring...